Snowflakes and Chocolate
by Josh Blake
Summary: Oneshot set after the events of my story Under the Night Sky. Hope and Lightning are caught in a snowstorm and have to take shelter in an abandoned Guardian Corps facility overnight. But it isn't all bad, they have each other and a jar of hot chocolate.


**This is a quick oneshot I was inspired to do by the thought of snow appearing at this time of year; it's set a few months after the end of Under the Night Sky. Enjoy.**

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**Snowflakes and Chocolate.**

"Quick! Quick, get in here!" Hope held the door open against the howling wind.

Lightning shielded her eyes and slowly trudged through the snow that was quickly settling on the ground. She made it to the door and fell inside the corridor and heard Hope slam it shut behind her.

Hope turned and saw Lightning picking herself up off the floor and began to shake violently, trying to hold in a torrent of laughter.

"What?!" She asked grumpily.

Hope couldn't hold it in any longer, he collapsed into a fit of laughter, trying to explain what was so funny, but his words were completely unintelligible. Lightning stood with her hands on her hips, frowning, and waited for Hope to regain his composure.

"I'm sorry Light, it's just, your hair!" Hope explained.

There was a dark window nearby so Lightning walked over to it and viewed her reflection, seeing her usually perfectly placed hair completely skewed at bizarre angles. This didn't improve her mood, as she was soaking wet, cold and now had Hope in hysterics about her appearance.

"Very funny, but you don't look so fantastic yourself." She replied.

Hope's hair was still acting as a snowflake place holder, with his silver hair whiter than usual because of the snow.

They had both been on their way back from a routine scouting mission in the wildlands of Pulse when the snow storm had suddenly struck up. The snow had been so thick in the sky they had no idea what direction they were going in and had stumbled upon this old abandoned Guardian Corps facility.

"Well I guess we're not making it back tonight!" Hope said.

"Doesn't look like it." Lightning agreed, her breath clouding in front of her face.

"Maybe we should have a look around to see if there's anything we can use to keep warm?" Hope said, hugging his arms around his chest.

"Good idea, it'll be quicker if we split up; we have no idea how big this place is." Lightning suggested.

"Okay, well I guess I'll take creepy corridor number 1." Hope pointed down an uninviting corridor.

"Shout if you find anything." Lightning said.

"I will; see you in a bit." Hope leaned in and planted a quick kiss on Lightning's cheek, causing her to blush.

Hope struck off down the deserted corridor humming to himself to try and abate his nerves, but he kept a hand on his gunblade just in case. There were several smashed windows and the tiles on the floor were cracked; Hope wondered how long it had been since anyone had used this place.

He came to a wooden door and tried the handle, only to find it was locked; not to be perturbed he gave the door a kick. The wood had rotted from the damp and it gave way easily under the force of Hope's kick.

He walked inside the room and saw it used to be an office of some kind; he rifled through the draws in a desk but didn't find anything useful so made his way back to the corridor. As he did so, something shot down towards him from the ceiling; he covered his face and fell over backwards, shouting as he did so.

He removed his hands from his face and scanned for his attacker, only to see it was a small bird.

"Hope, you okay?" He heard Lightning shout from somewhere.

"Yeah fine." He called back, feeling slightly embarrassed.

He picked himself up and continued on with his search, shivering as the snow began to melt into his clothes. He quickly came across another door that led into a barracks with rows of beds lining the room. He checked through the bedside cupboards and shouted triumphantly when he pulled out a jar of hot chocolate from one of them. He opened the lid and saw it was mostly full; now all they needed was some water and a way to boil it.

Hope began to retrace his steps back to the entrance, wondering if Lightning had found anything useful. When he got there, he saw Lightning had already returned and was holding something by her side, but it was too dark to see what it was.

"Hey, you okay, what did you shout for?" Lightning asked.

"I was viciously attacked by a crazed bird, but I came out of it unscathed." Hope replied.

"Right," Lightning rolled her eyes, "so did you find anything?"

"I found us something to drink!" Hope held up the jar.

"What a coincidence, look what I found!" Lightning held up a very battered looking kettle.

"Ugh, we can't use that, there's no power here." Hope frowned.

"It's made of metal, if we can start a fire and find something to prop it up with, it should work." Lightning mused.

"Right, well we might as well get some water now." Hope exclaimed.

"Hope wait..."

Hope had wandered over to the door that had entered in, and opened it to collect some snow to melt and use for water. Lightning had tried to warn him, but as he opened the door, a wall of snow fell into the doorway completely covering Hope.

They were both silent for a few seconds and then Hope heard Lightning utter a quiet chuckle, before she broke out into full blown laughter. Hope stood up and shook himself, removing some of the snow and shut the door again. He was slightly annoyed and was going to snap something at Lightning, but as he turned around and saw her face lit up with a huge smile, he felt his anger fade away and a goofy grin spread across his face.

"Guess we're even now." Hope smiled.

"You should have seen the look on your face! Ah well at least you got your snow." Lightning nodded at the pile of snow.

Hope scooped some of it up and filled the kettle.

"I found us somewhere where we could start a fire and sit down; follow me." Lightning said.

She took Hope down the second corridor and opened a door into a room with two chairs and a table.

"Now to start a fire," Hope paced up and down "I give up; this would be a lot easier if we could still use magic!"

"I have an idea."

Lightning pulled out a pack of ammunition she used to fill her gunblade and took out a single bullet.

"We want to light a fire, not shoot something Light." Hope joked.

"I know, just watch."

She placed the bullet on the floor and hit it with the hilt of her gunblade cracking it and spilling the gunpowder it held.

"Very clever." Hope expressed.

"While I'm doing this, see if you can cut a circle just big enough for the kettle to sit in on the table." Lightning instructed.

Hope did as he was told and cut a hole, which was easy as the wood in the table was rotten like most of the doors. He picked the kettle up and smiled as it fit perfectly in place. He turned around and saw that Lightning had gathered scraps of paper and smaller pieces of wood that were still dry, placing them at the end of the trail of gunpowder.

"How are you going to light the..."

Hope began but was cut off as Lightning took aim and fired a single shot causing the trail to catch alight and in turn set fire to the small pile of paper and wood she had collected.

"Nice!" Hope said.

"Thanks." Lightning smiled at him.

"I forgot," Hope slapped a hand to his head, "what are we going to drink out of?"

"It's a good job one of us came prepared." Lightning sighed, pulling a flask out of her belt and took two cups from the lid.

"See that's why we're such a good match for each other; you bring the survival kit to help us get through situations like this, and I bring the unequivocal wit and humour to help pass the time." Hope flashed a grin.

"I see, well you did make a funny snowman." Lightning laughed.

Hope loved making Lightning laugh, partly because he seemed the only person capable of doing so regularly, and partly because she became even more beautiful when her face spread into a genuine smile.

They moved the table over the fire and waited as the water in the kettle began to boil. Hope quickly went and collected more dry wood to keep the fire alive throughout the night. They scooped a bit of the chocolate into each cup and then filled them with the boiling water.

"This better not poison me!" Lightning sighed.

"I'll take the first sip if you want." Hope offered, and before she could reply he drank a mouthful.

Lightning watched as Hope thoughtfully swilled the drink around his mouth before gulping it down. He smiled, and then his face scrunched into a grimace before his hands shot to his throat and he began to cough.

"Hope? Hope are you alright?" Lightning asked, walking over to him.

Hope stopped coughing and began to make wheezing noises as if he couldn't breathe properly.

"Hope! Hold on."

Lightning knelt down next to him and leaned in to start giving him CPR, but before she could do anything a smile spread across his face and he pulled Lightning down into a kiss. She could still taste the chocolate on his lips and felt his mouth form a smile as the kiss deepened.

"You're the worst." She sighed, breaking away from Hope.

"Sorry I couldn't resist!" Hope laughed quietly.

Lightning went and took her place on one of the chairs, drinking a bit of the chocolate as she did so.

"You know this isn't half bad." She said in a surprised tone.

"I know right, it still tastes brand new." Hope agreed.

"I actually meant the whole night; being here with a fire going and snow falling outside with a cup of hot chocolate. And you of course!" She added hastily.

"Yeah I've had worse nights; how long do you think before the storm stops and we can head back?" Hope inquired.

"It'll be gone by the morning probably." She replied.

"Well I did find some beds, but it's pretty cold, so it would be better to stay in here with the fire for the night." Hope reasoned.

Lightning came over and jumped onto the chair Hope was sitting in, smiling as she snuggled up closer to him. Hope's face was a mask of absolute shock and he was at a loss for words.

"Well it's going to get cold in here, even with the fire, so the closer we are, the warmer it will be." Lightning explained sheepishly.

"Hey, I'm not complaining." Hope had regained the ability to speak.

He leant in and they kissed, with Hope thinking that no matter how many times they did this, he could never convince himself it was actually real. They broke apart and hugged each other soaking up the warmth of the fire.

Slowly as the night wore on, the fire died down leaving nothing but a few embers lighting up the room, as Lightning and Hope slept peacefully in each other's arms.

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**There we have it, nothing major but I hope you liked it all the same. I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas (those that celebrate it) and thanks for reading!**


End file.
